The morning air was exceptionally humid, and a thick mist rose from the center of the river.
The boatman had clearly seen such scenes many times and continued to row towards the opposite bank.
The other boats that had set out from Zhuangyuan Ferry together were now obscured by the mist and could no longer be seen.
He Xiuyuan stood by the side of the sampan, his gaze sweeping across his surroundings.
Along the way, the areas where the boat had passed were very calm and still, with no unusual movements observed.
When the boat reached the center of the river, aside from the mist being a bit thicker, nothing else was seen.
The old man beside him breathed a sigh of relief, "It seems that today, the Lords in the river are all resting and haven't come out to patrol."
If that were the case, the wine he had bought could be kept.
Thinking of this, the smile on the old man's face deepened a bit.
"Splash!"
Just as the old man was secretly congratulating himself, a faint splashing sound suddenly echoed nearby.
This was the middle of the river, and the splashing sound was not unusual, but He Xiuyuan's senses had become much sharper after Cultivating.
Listening to the subtle sound now, he distinguished that although it was also the sound of flowing water, it was clearly different from the sound of other river currents.
Upon hearing this unique sound, He Xiuyuan's brows furrowed slightly.
He didn't know why, but this sound felt a bit off.
However, He Xiuyuan looked left and right, and the water on the river surface didn't seem to have anything wrong with it, which left He Xiuyuan feeling somewhat puzzled.
Yet, at this moment, the splashing sound began to grow louder and louder.
Now, even the old man and Zhong Xiuyun heard it.
Zhong Xiuyun listened to the water sound and immediately said, somewhat strangely, "That's odd, why do I feel like there's another water flow sound besides the sound of the river flowing?"
"Why is this?"
As she spoke, she looked around, but her gaze found nothing amiss.
Seeing nothing strange, she couldn't help but look at the boatman, wanting to hear what he had to say.
At this moment, the old man's expression was not very good, "It seems... Lord Jiang is patrolling the river?"
"Patrolling the river, what does that mean?"
Zhong Xiuyun asked, somewhat confused.
But the old man said nothing at this moment; instead, he quickly took out the wine he had just bought.
He looked heartbroken at this moment, having originally thought he wouldn't need it, but it turned out he still did.
However, for the sake of his own life, he couldn't care less.
The old man stood at the bow of the boat with the fine wine and then began muttering to the river surface.
His words were mostly about not blaming the strange occurrences. After muttering for a moment, he poured the fine wine into the river.
As the fine wine was poured into the river, the previously extremely loud splashing sound became much calmer at this moment.
The old man's expression immediately relaxed, and he quickly sculled the boat, intending to leave the center of the river.
However, before he could scull a few times, the splashing sound started again.
And this time, the sound was clearly much louder than before.
Hearing this sound, the old man's face immediately showed panic and confusion.
He didn't understand. He had clearly offered the wine, and in the past, doing so would calm the river. Why was it not working today?
Thinking of this, he looked bewildered and confused.
"Watch out!"
At this moment, Zhong Xiuyun cried out in a hurry.
The old man came back to his senses and then saw a large boat in the thick fog crashing towards them.
The old man's expression changed instantly upon seeing this; to avoid the large boat, he quickly shook his oar.
As the large boat approached little by little, even though the old man tried his best to avoid it, they still crashed into the large boat.
He Xiuyuan's brows furrowed upon seeing this, and he lightly tapped his foot.
The water flow beneath the sampan immediately became rapid, and at the last moment, it forced the two boats to brush past each other.
The old man was stunned.
With his many years of experience in boating, that collision just now should have been unavoidable.
But for some reason, at the very last moment, they managed to narrowly avoid the large boat's impact.
It was as if an invisible pair of large hands had directly pulled the two boats apart just now.
And at this moment, before the old man could think further, he witnessed a shocking scene.
He saw countless boats, large and small, continuously emerging from the thick fog.
And all these boats, at this moment, seemed to be heading in one direction.
The old man looked closely and then realized that he was also caught in the flow, heading in one direction.
"Old man Yu, what's going on?"
At this moment, large and small boats were crowding together all around the river, and the boatmen standing at the bows were all nervously asking each other.
Inside the boats, the passengers wore anxious expressions.
They didn't know what was happening, but looking at the commotion now, they felt like it was something big.
"It should be Lord Jiang patrolling the river. Do you have any wine? Have you offered it to the river?"
The old man looked at the many boats and immediately shouted loudly.
He felt that perhaps there were too many boats, and some people hadn't offered wine to the river, angering Lord Jiang.
"Whoever still has wine, take it out and offer it!"
The old man quickly shouted at this moment, "If you don't offer it soon, you'll all be fish food! The river is becoming turbulent; if we end up in Tiger Leap Gorge, we'll be dead for sure!"
The other boatmen immediately shouted in response, telling everyone else who had wine to take it out.
Steward Song stood by, his brows slightly furrowed as he listened to these shouts.
Since the river had become turbulent, they should just make an effort to leave this place, instead of doing this river offering nonsense.
These boatmen and others living by the river were truly difficult to understand.
And as these shouts rang out, wine was continuously poured into the river, hoping that the Lord in the river would let them leave.
He Xiuyuan came to the side of the boat and looked down, then paused slightly.
When he had looked at the riverbed before, he hadn't seen anything, but now, He Xiuyuan clearly saw an incredibly huge black fish, swimming beneath a large boat.
And behind this enormous black fish, countless other fish of various sizes followed.
From their appearance, these fish seemed to have gained some Dao cultivation.
As these fish swam past, the flick of their tails created splashing water sounds.
And the entire river's current was being driven forward by these fish demons.
Under the traction of this demonic power, it was no wonder these large and small boats couldn't leave.
